Saw this for Kusturica and it was good to have Binoche to boot. I had to watch it in Hungarian since I couldn't find anything in English. A moral redemptive tale with some interesting culture and history. RUS

My decision to watch all of the Best Foreign Language nominees from the BAFTAs and Golden Globes for my primary years of interest has not produced nearly as many high-quality viewing experiences as I'd expected. These awards apparently skew heavily toward the type of dull, forgettable, human melodrama that any average Hollywood newcomer could've made while they were in film school. I've found it so difficult to be impressed by this and several others (With Friends Like Harry..., The Taste of Others, etc) that it has me worried that I don't know how to appreciate a good film when I see one. I didn't mind the premise with this one and the acting was fine; the problem was how thoroughly futile all of Madame La's efforts seemed (and ultimately were), particularly her teaching the man to read instead of doing anything to appeal his sentence. Auteuil's defiance of the governor and his other superiors came off as nothing more than irresponsible posturing and the townspeople having no qualms about letting a death-row murderer do manual labor for them didn't seem particularly believable. I'll not likely forget having watched this because of its mildly unique premise but I can't say I'm glad to have sat through it.

I can’t understand all the great reviews gushing about this film’s passion. This felt like listening to a child retell a story, where they forget to give you the context or set the scene, and one-dimensional characters make dramatic decisions and actions without precedent. The town’s instant forgiveness and sudden, unanimous affection for their neighbor’s murderer was just one example of the absurdity. The concept of a convicted murderer redeeming himself, only to be executed, is not a bad one. But this film was about as clumsy as the faulty guillotine (the “widow”) of Saint Pierre.

Boring but the scenery of Newfoundland is really great.

started becoming uninteresting very quickly...not my cup of tea..

A quiet film that stays intense to the very end -- not at all what I expected.

Based on a true story! An extraordinary dark drama that reflects an anti death penalty rationale! But if you look harder you will see the film is about so much more! The more dangerously involved the Captain and his wife become with the condemned prisoner the more their passions explode! A deeply romantic and complex story about the human condition and the tinderbox that dwells within our hearts!

Beautiful period drama, this film benefits from a great storyline, and interesting cast & beautiful reconstitution of the life back then. It's not a funny film but it's so beautifully shot & acted by such an amazing bunch of great actors, you will get on board and have a great time.

This French film deals with a man sentenced to be killed by means of the guillotine (the widow(maker), la veuve). The story takes place a few hundred years back on a cold island, beautifully filmed; you can almost feel the cold coming off the screen. After a while, the population starts to actually like the prisoner, but since the island's council doesn't want to go against the will of the government in Paris, the sentence has to be carried out. But what can you do if the island lacks a guillotine as well as an executioner? La Veuve de St. Pierre is very captivating, full of sympathetic people, but then fate doesn't seem to care much if people are good or bad, or if maybe they deserve a second chance, like the prisoner awaiting his execution. It's all very well acted by the all-star French cast (including Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil). A very well-produced, touching film.

(***): [img]http://images.chrc4work.com/images/user/icons/icon14.gif[/img] An interesting and well-acted film.

This movie is wonderful. The story and screenplay are engaging and very well written with powerful lines; the direction of Patrice Leconte and the performances are top- notch, with Juliette Binoche extremely beautiful and elegant as usual and showing a magnificent chemistry with Daniel Auteuil. Emir Kusturica, a great director himself, is totally believable as Neel. His interaction with Madame La turns from gratitude into a noble love that is not meant to be. Even the cowardly bureaucrats, who feel threatened by the captain and his wife, are a picture of cowardly perfection. Their motives are all too human, all too real. But so is the unfathomable love they don't understand, and fear. One of the things I really appreciate about this film is the way it expresses all forms of love as having boundaries. What we see is a mature, healthy relationship, each partner respecting the unique characteristics of the other. What a contrast to the infantile clinging vine romances out of Hollywood!

Slow, but moving. Lovely, yet tragic. I had no idea what to expect, but came away with a feeling of hope amidst so much despair. The movie speaks to you without saying anything. Wonderful acting...I recommend this to anyone who wants to see what it really means to act. What it means to carry a movie with simply superb acting and a story. I've almost seen all of Juliet Binoche's movies and I have to say I've almost loved all of them.

Remarkable and hauntingly gripping.

Fantastic period piece. Binoche and Auteuil are excellent. Highly recommended.

a film that causes you to think about justice, compassion, and humanity.

Period pieces are not "my genre," and so I wasn't really into this one until Madame La begins to teach Neel how to read and Binoche's performance completely drew me in. Unfortunately, her character soon showed herself as an entitled woman who was not used to being told "no" and who did not seem to understand that Neel had accepted his fate and the consequences of his actions.

My number one film for cinematography.

Theme #1 is a predictable anti-capital punishment story in which a drunken murderer quickly transforms into a gentle and noble-hearted man under the tutelage of the lovely prison warden's wife, who is "attracted to desperate cases". Fairly ridiculous, but then, Juliette Binoche is lovely. More interesting is theme #2, the lengths to which a man in desperate love - the prison warden with his wife - will go to win her approval, as it seems evident he is much more in love with her than she with him, and this obsessive quest to please her ultimately leading to his self-destruction.

This movie is wonderful. The story and screenplay are engaging and very well written with powerful lines; the direction of Patrice Leconte and the performances are top- notch, with Juliette Binoche extremely beautiful and elegant as usual and showing a magnificent chemistry with Daniel Auteuil. Emir Kusturica, a great director himself, is totally believable as Neel. His interaction with Madame La turns from gratitude into a noble love that is not meant to be. Even the cowardly bureaucrats, who feel threatened by the captain and his wife, are a picture of cowardly perfection. Their motives are all too human, all too real. But so is the unfathomable love they don't understand, and fear. One of the things I really appreciate about this film is the way it expresses all forms of love as having boundaries. What we see is a mature, healthy relationship, each partner respecting the unique characteristics of the other. What a contrast to the infantile clinging vine romances out of Hollywood!

wonderfully heartbreaking tale of forgiveness and love everlasting...